The Most Serious Pony In All Of Equestria

Ponyville, at the moment, was completely full. Ponies from all over Equestria flooded the streets of the small town. A giant crowd had formed underneath the castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle. This was all because of a little surprise Princess Celestia had in mind. She announced that from now on, Princess Twilight and Dragon Ambassador Spike were to pick the matches for the FIRST ANUAL EQUESTRIA SERIOUSNESS COMPETITION. In fact, that is what was about to happen, for Twilight and Spike had made their way out to their royal balcony. Ponies cheered and then silenced themselves as they saw their princess arrive.

"Mares and Gentlecolts!" began Twilight. "On behalf of all of the Equestrian royalty, we would like to again thank you for your enthusiasm. We know many of you here today are from out of town and we appreciate you coming all the way here to see the this. Most of you look pretty excited, so we won't keep you waiting any longer. Spike!" Another wave of cheers spread throughout the crowd as the dragon whelp made his way into view. "For those of you who don't know who this is, his name is Spike. Spike is the official dragon ambassador to Equestria, as well as my little brother. He will be drawing the names for the third round." Spike held up the glass bowl that had been previously handled by Luna.

"Ok, ponies!" Spike called. "Are you ready for this!?" The crowd below once again let out tons of cheers as Spike said those words. "I guess you are. Now, let's get down to it." Spike reached into the glass bowl and swirled his claw around. Eventually, he grabbed one and pulled it out. "Alright, the first competitor in the third round will be Mrs.Harschwhinny!" Surprisingly, only one pony in the entire crowd cheered at the name, and that was Pinkie Pie. Harshwhinny had a reputation for being a stick in the mud and no pony really liked her. "Ok. I love the enthusiasm. Any way, on to the next one." Spike once again reached a claw in, swirled it around, and pulled a name out of the bowl. He brought it up to is face to read the name. "The second competitor who will be in the third round is..."
Just then, Spike let out a huge sneeze. A burst of fire came out of his nose and hit the paper. The name instantly was burned and turned to ashes. Every pony gasped as Spike sat there, embarrassed. "Sorry about that. Don't worry though, I saw the name and it was Cherry Jubilee!" Twilight Sparkle then walked forward and joined Spike on the balcony.

"Did you hear that every pony? The third round will be between Mrs.Harshwhinny and Cherry Jubilee. It has been decided that the match will be held in the Crystal Empire. Good luck to both competitors and we will see you tomorrow."

After the names for the third round had been announced, Spike and Twilight walked back into the castle. Celestia and Luna had been waiting for them, but were watching the event on a portable TV.

"What happened out there!?" demanded Celestia.

"I sneezed." replied Spike, meekly.

"I know that, but why did you let the paper burn up? That could have been a disaster!"

"Oh please, Tia. Spike saw the name in time, so there is no need to get upset. No harm, no foul." Luna chimed in.

"I guess you are right, sister. I apologize, Spike."

"It's okay. Every pony gets angry and you will definitely be angry when Luna and I win the next round."

"We'll see about that." Twilight began. "I'm guessing you two will pick Mrs.Harshwhinny."

"Yep."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Cherry Jubilee will be the one to win."

"And why is that, Sparkle?" Luna asked.

"She runs her own business. That takes seriousness. Mrs.Harshwhinny just works for a committee."

"So!" Spike replied. "Have you met Harshwhinny? No pony is more serious than her, especially not Cherry Jubilee."

"I guess we'll just have to wait till tomorrow to prove you wrong."

"I guess we will." With those words, Spike turned and walked down a hall. Luna followed him, but Celestia and Twilight stayed to talk.

"Are you sure Harshwhinny can pull this off, Spike?"

"Oh, I'm sure. I'm just glad I didn't get caught."

"What do you mean?"

"I burned the name on purpose. I had pulled Twilight's name, not Cherry Jubilee's."

"What!?"

"You heard me. I hate to admit it, but Twilight could have won. However, now that Cherry is going up against her, there's no way Harshwhinny can lose!"

"I like the way you think, Spike."

"So do I."

Now, it was the Crystal Empire's turn to be loaded with ponies. There were ponies from all over Equestria there, making it look like it had during the Equestria games. The stadium that help the games was now the home of a different event. Being the rulers of the Empire, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor were the announcers for the third round. They made their way to center field as silence washed over the crowd.

"Hello, Crystal Empires!" Shining Armor spoke. "It is time for the third round of the FIRST ANUAL EQUESTRIA SERIOUSNESS COMPETITION!" The crowd then broke their silence and let out a grand cheer. "I can hear you're ready, so let's get started. Allow me to introduce our competitors. This official looking mare is Mrs.Harshwhinny. She's the head of the Equestria Games Committee and a well known stick in the mud. And this other mare is Cherry Jubilee. She runs her own cherry packaging business on the edge of Equestria. Both are great competitors, but there can be only one winner!" Now, it was Cadence's turn to speak.

"This round will be a regular, best two out of three contest! The first event will be about work ethic. Both competitors will be telling a group of construction ponies how to build a small doghouse. The one that completes their doghouse first is the winner. The next round will be about stamina. The two will have a staring contest and of corse, the winner of the contest will win that event. Finally, the last event will be about public speaking. The ponies must given an impromptu speech about whatever topic they choose. The one who gives the better speech will win that event! Now that we know what's going on, it's time to start. One...Two...Three...Go!"

Instantly, both competitors started to make their way towards the first event. Cherry Jubilee got their first and began ordering her team to build the doghouse. Harshwhinny got there shortly after and did the same, just with a lot more ferocity. Both mares were barking orders as their teams desperately tired to finnish their doghouse first. Soon, both houses were almost complete and just needed to have the roofs put on. Cherry Jubilee felt confident she would win and smoothened her tone, causing her team to relax and take a break. However, Mrs.Harshwhinny had no intentions of losing and kept on barking orders. Her team kept on working and finally put the roof on top.

"The winner of the first event is Mrs.Harshwhinny!" Cadence exclaimed. "Now, on to the staring contest!"

Both ponies took their places and soon the contest was on. Harshwhinny and Jubilee both took a final blink before opening their eyes to as wide as they could go. Minutes passed by and nether competitor seemed to give an inch. The crowd was completely silent except for a small stallion in the back, who was silently muttering, "Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss." Eventually, Mrs.Harshwhinny eye's began to close, but she barely managed to keep them open. After a while, it looked like Harshwhinny was done for, but just Cherry Jubilee's eyes snapped shut. Ponies gasped at the realization that Mrs.Harshwhinny had won.

"There you go, every pony. The winner of the first two events and the third round of the competition is Mrs.Harshwhinny!" Instead of going crazy, the crowd all groaned in disappointment, for no pony wanted to her to be the victor. Mrs.Harshwinny could only sigh as she silently walked off the field.